2,852 research outputs found
MetaSpace II: Object and full-body tracking for interaction and navigation in social VR
MetaSpace II (MS2) is a social Virtual Reality (VR) system where multiple
users can not only see and hear but also interact with each other, grasp and
manipulate objects, walk around in space, and get tactile feedback. MS2 allows
walking in physical space by tracking each user's skeleton in real-time and
allows users to feel by employing passive haptics i.e., when users touch or
manipulate an object in the virtual world, they simultaneously also touch or
manipulate a corresponding object in the physical world. To enable these
elements in VR, MS2 creates a correspondence in spatial layout and object
placement by building the virtual world on top of a 3D scan of the real world.
Through the association between the real and virtual world, users are able to
walk freely while wearing a head-mounted device, avoid obstacles like walls and
furniture, and interact with people and objects. Most current virtual reality
(VR) environments are designed for a single user experience where interactions
with virtual objects are mediated by hand-held input devices or hand gestures.
Additionally, users are only shown a representation of their hands in VR
floating in front of the camera as seen from a first person perspective. We
believe, representing each user as a full-body avatar that is controlled by
natural movements of the person in the real world (see Figure 1d), can greatly
enhance believability and a user's sense immersion in VR.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Video:
http://living.media.mit.edu/projects/metaspace-ii
The benefits of using a walking interface to navigate virtual environments
Navigation is the most common interactive task performed in three-dimensional virtual environments (VEs), but it is also a task that users often find difficult. We investigated how body-based information about the translational and rotational components of movement helped participants to perform a navigational search task (finding targets hidden inside boxes in a room-sized space). When participants physically walked around the VE while viewing it on a head-mounted display (HMD), they then performed 90% of trials perfectly, comparable to participants who had performed an equivalent task in the real world during a previous study. By contrast, participants performed less than 50% of trials perfectly if they used a tethered HMD (move by physically turning but pressing a button to translate) or a desktop display (no body-based information). This is the most complex navigational task in which a real-world level of performance has been achieved in a VE. Behavioral data indicates that both translational and rotational body-based information are required to accurately update one's position during navigation, and participants who walked tended to avoid obstacles, even though collision detection was not implemented and feedback not provided. A walking interface would bring immediate benefits to a number of VE applications
Substitutional reality:using the physical environment to design virtual reality experiences
Experiencing Virtual Reality in domestic and other uncontrolled settings is challenging due to the presence of physical objects and furniture that are not usually defined in the Virtual Environment. To address this challenge, we explore the concept of Substitutional Reality in the context of Virtual Reality: a class of Virtual Environments where every physical object surrounding a user is paired, with some degree of discrepancy, to a virtual counterpart. We present a model of potential substitutions and validate it in two user studies. In the first study we investigated factors that affect participants' suspension of disbelief and ease of use. We systematically altered the virtual representation of a physical object and recorded responses from 20 participants. The second study investigated users' levels of engagement as the physical proxy for a virtual object varied. From the results, we derive a set of guidelines for the design of future Substitutional Reality experiences
Three levels of metric for evaluating wayfinding
Three levels of virtual environment (VE) metric are proposed, based on: (1) users’ task performance (time taken, distance traveled and number of errors made), (2) physical behavior (locomotion, looking around, and time and error classification), and (3) decision making (i.e., cognitive) rationale (think aloud, interview and questionnaire). Examples of the use of these metrics are drawn from a detailed review of research into VE wayfinding. A case study from research into the fidelity that is required for efficient VE wayfinding is presented, showing the unsuitability in some circumstances of common metrics of task performance such as time and distance, and the benefits to be gained by making fine-grained analyses of users’ behavior. Taken as a whole, the article highlights the range of techniques that have been successfully used to evaluate wayfinding and explains in detail how some of these techniques may be applied
Locomotion in virtual reality in full space environments
Virtual Reality is a technology that allows the user
to explore and interact with a virtual environment in
real time as if they were there. It is used in various
fields such as entertainment, education, and medicine
due to its immersion and ability to represent reality.
Still, there are problems such as virtual simulation
sickness and lack of realism that make this technology
less appealing. Locomotion in virtual environments is
one of the main factors responsible for an immersive and
enjoyable virtual reality experience. Several methods
of locomotion have been proposed, however, these
have flaws that end up negatively influencing the
experience. This study compares natural locomotion in
complete spaces with joystick locomotion and natural
locomotion in impossible spaces through three tests
in order to identify the best locomotion method in
terms of immersion, realism, usability, spatial knowledge
acquisition and level of virtual simulation sickness. The
results show that natural locomotion is the method
that most positively influences the experience when
compared to the other locomotion methods.A Realidade Virual Ă© uma tecnologia que permite
ao utilizador explorar e interagir com um ambiente
virtual em tempo real como se lá estivesse presente.
E utilizada em diversas áreas como o entretenimento, educação e medicina devido à sua imersão e capacidade
de representar a realidade. Ainda assim, existem
problemas como o enjoo por simulação virtual e a
falta de realismo que tornam esta tecnologia menos
apelativa. A locomoção em ambientes virtuais é um dos
principais fatores responsáveis por uma experiência em
realidade virtual imersiva e agradável. Vários métodos
de locomoção foram propostos, no entanto, estes têm
falhas que acabam por influenciar negativamente a
experiência. Este estudo compara a locomoção natural
em espaços completos com a locomoção por joystick e
a locomoção natural em espaços impossĂveis atravĂ©s de
três testes de forma a identificar qual o melhor método
de locomoção a nĂvel de imersĂŁo, realismo, usabilidade,
aquisição de conhecimento espacial e nĂvel de enjoo
por simulação virtual. Os resultados mostram que
a locomoção natural é o método que mais influencia
positivamente a experiĂŞncia quando comparado com os
outros métodos de locomoção
An experiment design: investigating VR locomotion & virtual object interaction mechanics
In this paper, we describe an experiment outline on investigating design and user experience related aspects of several virtual reality locomotion and virtual object interaction mechanics. These mechanics will be based on consumer hardware like a common game controllers, an infrared hand and finger tracking device, VR hand controllers and an omnidirectional treadmill. Corresponding related work will contextualize and motivate this research. The projected experimental study will be based on user test sessions with a specifically developed 1st person VR puzzle horror game, called Gooze. A hybrid approach of self-assessment, in-game parameter tracking and session observations will be proposed for the investigation. Statistical analysis methods will be suggested to evaluate results. Furthermore, this paper will give an overview of the game and elaborate on design, gameplay and user experience related insights of already conducted informal pre-studies with it
UX evaluation of VR locomotion & virtual object interaction mechanics
Virtual Reality (VR) Interactions like in Ready Player One? Locomotion (LOC) and Virtual Object Interaction (VOI) are two key areas of concern, when designing and developing VR games and other VR applications. This paper describes a study of three interaction modes and their underlying VOI and LOC mechanics, using a range of consumer-oriented VR input setups, spanning from gamepad, over Spatially Tracked Hand Controllers, to Controllerless Hand Tracking and Omnidirectional Treadmill. All corresponding mechanics were implemented in the specifically developed, optimized and polished “real-world” game Gooze, to test them in a real-world scenario with corresponding challenges in gaming and human computer interaction. A within-subjects experiment with 89 participants using qualitative and quantitative analysis methods was conducted. The interaction modes and their mechanics were evaluated based on the four User Experience aspects: Player Enjoyment, Support of Gameplay, Simulator Sickness and Presence, with the latter being subdivided into the four sub-parameters: General Presence, Spatial Presence, Involvement and Experienced Realism, according to the igroup Presence Questionnaire. The paper concludes with summarizing the individual advantages and disadvantages of the assessed interaction modes
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